Italy 1st Quarter 2015: Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X superstars in recovering market

The Fiat 500X & Jeep Renegade both land inside the Italian Top 20 over the period.

* See the Top 180 best-selling models and Top 46 brands by clicking on the title *

After putting an end to 7 connective years of decline in 2014 with a shy 4% improvement, 2015 starts in a much more encouraging way: the Italian new car market is up 14% to 431,568 registrations. And even if this surge has a lot to do with sales to rental companies and dealerships – making it very artificial as it is the case in France, the growth rate makes Italy the fastest improving market among the Top 10 worldwide. Local fare Fiat is up a solid 11%, enabling to evolve roughly at the same market share level as a year ago (20.7%) and the rest of the Top 4 manufacturers is unchanged on Q1 2014: Volkswagen (+1%), Ford (+24%) and Renault (+26%) follow. Opel (+28%) overtakes Peugeot (+14%) to slip inside the Top 5, while Nissan (+32%) is up 3 spots to break into the Top 10 at #8. Notice also Dacia and Smart up 31%, Seat up 49%, Mitsubishi up 62%, Porsche up 63%, Lexus up 127% and Jeep up 4-fold.

The Fiat Panda is more than ever the dominant nameplate at home.

The Fiat Panda reinforces its leadership in the models ranking thanks to sales improving faster than the market at +17%, leading to a 7.6% market share. Below, the Fiat 500L (4%) and Lancia Ypsilon (3.6%) benefit from the crumbling down of the Fiat Punto (-16%) to take 2nd and 3rd spots respectively. The Fiat 500 rounds up the Top 5, while the Renault Clio and Ford Fiesta overtake the VW Golf and Polo to top the foreign models ranking. Italian car buyers are (even) more fond of small SUVs than the rest of Europe, and 2015 has increased this bias even further. The Opel Mokka more than doubles its sales year-on-year to reach #14, the Renault Captur is up 47% to #16, the Dacia Duster up 61% to #17 and the Kia Sportage up 38% to #22.

Opel Mokka sales are up 111% year-on-year in Italy.

But the big event occurring over the start of 2015 is that landing of two locally produced twin baby SUVs inside the Top 20. The Jeep Renegade takes the brand to unheard-of heights and has become the first Jeep to crack the monthly Italian Top 50, Top 20 and Top 10 (last December)… It ranks #18 in Q1 2015 with 6,035 sales and 1.4% and may have peaked out now that the Fiat 500X is gearing up: breaking into the Top 20 for the first time in March at #19, also earning a #19 ranking over Q1 2015. Simply because it is Fiat-branded, the 500X should be outselling the Renegade for the remainder of their respective careers, and a long-term Top 10 spot for the 500X would mean all three 500 declinations (500, 500L and 500X) are among Italy’s 10 most popular nameplates.

Previous post: Italy March 2015: Now with Top 180 best-selling models

Original March post: Italy March 2015: Fiat 500X now inside Top 20

One year ago: Italy March 2014: Now with the Top 160 best-selling models

Full Q1 2015 Top 180 models and Top 46 brands vs. Full Q1 2014 figures below.